Taiwan’s Parliament To Ratify China Trade Pact

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou said at the weekend that the island’s controversial trade pact with China will be subjected to parliamentary scrutiny before it is ratified.

Taipei insists that the proposed pact will boost the island’s annual economic growth by more than one percentage point, but opposition leaders fear it will compromise Taiwan’s de facto independence.

In a speech on Saturday after he was formally sworn in as chairman of the ruling Kuomintang party, Ma gave an assurance that all negotiations with Beijing on the “Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement” would be transparent.